Album Review: Fleetwood Mac – Mirage (1982)

 Nicks/Buckingham Era Fleetwood Mac’s weakest album – at least in my opinion anyway.  Stevie Nicks and the late Christine McVie perform well on this album – and the end result is a competent, yet uninspiring record, with a hit or two here and there, and another couple of gems, and another couple of numbers that eventually grow on you a bit more.  But this ain’t no Rumours, nor even another Tusk, for that matter, but the end result is more or less unique unto itself.  Stylistic influences include a dash of country and in the case of track 11 – “Eyes of the World” – A melody borrowed from an obscure canon, written by an equally obscure classical music composer of the 17^th century.  Oh and by the way, “Gypsy” is on this record too.  So there’s that.  And anybody who owned their 1988 Greatest Hits compilation will no doubt be familiar with “Oh, Diane” as well.  Not a bad album, but not their best offering, or even their best eighties offering – Tango in the Night is more my thing from that era.  B+

Album Review: Fleetwood Mac - Tusk (1979)

I've been listening to some great double albums as of late, and in the process I've revisited Tusk by Fleetwood Mac.  And let's just say I'm loving it more than ever.  I'm loving it for the diversity of songs.  I'm loving it for the plethora of great songs.  It is a phenomenal album, and easily one of the best double albums ever made.  The first time I listened to it, I ended up cherry-picking songs from the album, but in reviewing it, I'm quite happy to play it from start to finish.  I'm loving some songs even more than I did before - "Over and Over", "Storms" and "Never Forget", all songs I initially dismissed as being average, have grown on me fast.  Damn fast.  The other choice cuts from the album - "Ledge", "Not That Funny", "That's Enough For Me" and "I Know I'm Not Wrong", I've long loved because of their oddball proclivities, and that's not likely to change any time soon.  And then you've got the singles - "Sara", "What Makes You Think You're The One", "Tusk" and "Sisters of the Moon" - and they're all great too.  Forget the 'best of' and 'greatest hits' compilations, listen to them here, the original album.  Because sooner or later, you'll delve into the rest of the album and quickly figure out for yourself why I, and everyone else for that matter, revere this album.  And the fact that it's a long album to boot only ramps up one's anticipation of listening to it.  I hope you get excited about Tusk as I do.  A

Album Review: Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood Mac (1975)

Rumours is without a doubt Fleetwood Mac's greatest album.  But it certainly wasn't the first great album from them.  Their self-titled album from 1975 is yet more proof that over-reliance on 'greatest hits' and 'best of' compilations is always going to be a bad thing.  For a while now I've been pointing out that there is more to a studio album than its greatest hits, i.e. the songs everybody knows, courtesy of the radio stations.  I'm glad I invested in a copy of this album for this very reason.  The album is full of radio playlist staples, but there's the overlooked tracks that are dire need of some attention as well.  "Blue Letter" is a song I've been waiting for for so long now.  And "Sugar Daddy" isn't too bad a ditty either.  "Warm Ways" and "Crystal" are a little too sluggish for my personal preference, and that latter has too much of a Bread vibe too it.  But there's plenty of hits of course - good hits, I should add - to make this album essential buying.  Or streaming, whatever your preference is.  "Rhiannon", "Say You Love Me" and "Over My Head", amongst others, all remind me that the tenner I invested in this record was money well spent.  Stick this album on your next playlist.  A-

Album Review: Fleetwood Mac - Rumours (1977)

I tend to agree with the findings of most music reviewers when it comes to albums of great importance and significance in the history of popular music.  Of course, the late Michael Jackson’s Thriller garners great admiration and respect for, at the very least, its impact on the 80s generations, and the likes of Paul Simon’s Graceland will sometimes tell us to expect the unexpected in the most favorable ways.  Of course, just because an album sells like the proverbial hotcakes doesn’t intrinsically equate to it being any good – Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road being a classic case, but it's more often than not that does the consumer prove most discerning in their tastes.  Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours has sold in the tens of millions, and frankly, the sales figures are justified.  And given that most Fleetwood Mac ‘best of’ compilations are essentially Rumours with assorted choice picks from across the rest of the band’s discography bolted on, it goes without saying that this record encompasses everything good about Fleetwood Mac.  “You Make Loving Fun”, “Dreams”, “Second Hand News”, yeah, they’re great.  But don’t forget about “I Don’t Want to Know.”  In saying that, you may not want to know, “Oh Daddy”, and “Silver Springs (on some reissues only).”  I’m not too enthusiastic about them.  But I’ll let you decide that for yourself.  A

Album Review: Fleetwood Mac - Tango In The Night (1987)

Less of a musical mixed bag than Roxy Music, despite my affection for both groups, Fleetwood Mac is another fine band that never fails to put out an album with at least one reputable track on it.  Certainly, Rumours and Tango in the Night more than help reinforce this position - both are peppered with hits that garnered an ample amount of airplay – yet, despite the obvious ones, there are still a good number of less prominent numbers to counter the poorer ones.  I’m thinking about the likes of “Caroline”, “Isn’t It Midnight”, and “You and I, Part II”, all of which wondrously complement the best known “Little Lies”, “Everywhere” and “Seven Wonders” as the hidden charms that they are, and offsetting the dull and uninspiring “Mystified”, “Welcome to the Room…Sara”, and “When I See You Again.”  But despite the lackluster build of the latter three, it still is a good album all around.  A-